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Michael Vick gets his own television series

You might want to sit down for this one: Michael Vick is going to star in his own television series.

Two weeks after his first regular season appearance as an NFL quarterback since completing his prison sentence for dog fighting, Vick has announced he has the starring and title role in an eight-part docu-series on BET, tentatively titled “The Michael Vick Project.”

Call it amrak (the opposite of karma). Call it unjust desserts. Call it absolutely outrageous. But the convicted animal abuser is on the verge of getting another heaping helping of good fortune.

“I just want people to really get to know me as an individual,” Vick said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times. “What I want to do is change the perception of me. I am a human being. I’ve made some mistakes in the past, and I wish it had never happened. But it’s not about how you fall, but about how you pick yourself up.”

The program will spotlight his controversial comeback with the Philadelphia Eagles and examine his tumultuous past — including his troubled childhood and his 2007 arrest for running a dogfighting ring, with visits to both the Virginia estate where he fought dogs and federal prison in Leavenworth, Kansas, where he served his sentence.

Officials with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals expressed skepticism about the project. “People who abuse animals don’t deserve to be rewarded,” said PETA spokesman Dan Shannon. “They shouldn’t be given multimillion-dollar contracts . . . or given the privilege of being a role model.”

The project has the support of the Eagles, the NFL and the Humane Society of the United States, which has enlisted Vick in its battle to end the widespread abuse of dogs in the inner city.

The project is being produced by DuBose Entertainment; Vick’s production company, MV7 Productions; and Category 5 Entertainment. No one associated with the production would comment on Vick’s compensation for the series, the Times reported. Vick has filed a six-year plan to repay creditors an estimated $20 million to get out of bankruptcy.

Producers of the Vick series said the program would not a typical reality show like VH-1’s “The T.O. Show,” which revels in the excesses of its flamboyant star, wide receiver Terrell Owens. The tone of Vick’s show, say producers, will be serious and somber as it focuses on his personal struggles since his release.

“This show can be a blueprint for so many kids,” Vick said. “I want to show them that things are going to happen, that they’re not going to get through life without dealing with some kind of adversity. I want to show that if they have a fall from grace, this is how they can turn it around. We want this to be a story of hope.”

Soo..when someone makes a mistake..they’re supposed to pay for that mistake for the rest of their lives? You must be a fuckin saint.

Comment from EighteenpawsTime October 7, 2009 at 5:46 pm

“Fall from grace?” “Hope?” Maybe he can get in line for Pope too. This man and the high-profile people and institutions that support him — the NFL and its largely indifferent audience, the Eagles, Tony Dungey, the HSUS, etc — have established the worst possible example of the path to wealth and success: Commit violently psychotic, unspeakable, unviewable crimes, and stopping only because “caught” — then in Extreme Makeover fashion, reinvent and re-present one’s self as wiser and more wonderful than ever. I have yet to hear or perceive any sense of regret for his despicable activities. How anyone can buy this or support and promote this is way beyond my comprehension.

A “mistake” is not what Michael Vick made. He had carved dogfighting into his life years ago. He paid for his stupidity with 18 months in jail.

It is an slap to everyone in the animal welfare community that Vick continues to have wealth and fame heaped upon him. And that BET would try to take Vick’s name and make it synonymous with “family values” indicates a broken moral compass. What, the family that fights and kills dogs together, stays together?

Let him prove himself if he can…haven’t yet seen any sign of true remorse or empathy for the dogs he tortured and murdered so easily.

So we’re setting out to teach kids that you can behave any way you please, break the law, go to prison, serve your time, get your old job back and become a celebrity multi-millionaire. Wow. How’s that been working for all the rest of the convicted felons out there? Think we could get the NFL and the humane society to hire them too? There is nothing so distasteful as a big slathering of false hope served up by those who would profit from it.

Comment from JeniferTime October 8, 2009 at 7:45 pm

Minista if you think this was a mere mistake you are as bad as Vick. It was not a mistake because Vick DELIBERATELY TORTURED AND MURDERED LIVING CREATURES TO GET MONEY. It is abundantly proven that people who do this to animals eventually move on to doing it to humans. No doubt you would think that a mere “mistake” too.

With people like Vick and like you, Minista, inthis country I wish desperately I had enough to move to some other country where the majority of the population is actually relatively morally human and not walking talking EVIL.

Comment from TracyTime October 9, 2009 at 8:49 pm

Again Mr Vick, I say to you…it’s not about YOU! It’s not about how you pick yourself up..it’s about all those innocent dogs you chose to brutally murder. And for the record…he did not “do his time”. The time he spent in prison was for bankrolling the whole operation, not for killing those precious animals. He still won’t admit that he was wrong or express any regret for commiting torturous acts of murder. If he hadn’t been caught, he would still be participating and feeling no remorse. This man is not a role model, he is not someone the public needs to “get to know better”. He is scum and should be treated as such.